Toe harness

ABSTRACT

An elastic band of a suitable length to contract about the foot just behind the toes to retain itself in place, this band having cotton-tuft-retaining elastic strips secured to its forward edge at points located above the foot and aligned with vertical planes in which the toes are contiguous, said elastic strips extending downward between said toes and being connected at their lower ends by a transverse elastic strip, the opposite ends of said transverse strip being connected with the front edge of said band by wing elastic strips which pass outwardly and upwardly around the big and little toes and serve to keep said transverse elastic strip taut, said cotton-tuft-retaining elastic strips overlying and retaining in place medicated tufts of cotton placed between the toes.

United States Patent 1 Piper 51 Apr. 3, 1973 [54] TOE HARNESS [76]Inventor: Tracy D. Piper, 7900 Teesdale Avenue, North Hollywood, Calif.91605 [22] Filed: Nov. 2, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 86,113

Primary Exaininer-William E. Kamm Assistant Examiner-J. YaskoAttorney-Dana E. Keech 57 ABSTRACT An elastic band of a suitable lengthto contract about the foot just behind the toes to retain itself inplace, this band having cotton-tuft-retaining elastic strips secured toits forward edge at points located above the foot and aligned withvertical planes in which the toes are contiguous, said elastic stripsextending downward between said toes and being connected at their lowerends by a transverse elastic strip, the opposite ends of said transversestrip being connected with the front edge of said band by wing elasticstrips which pass outwardly and upwardly around the big and little toesand serve to keep said transverse elastic strip taut, saidcotton-tuft-retaining elastic strips overlying and retaining in placemedicated tufts of cotton placed between the toes.

3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAPR 3 I975 I/vvE/v 70/2. IZQCV D.P/PER TOE HARNESS SUMMARY OF INVENTION In the treatment of athletes footand other fungus ailments of the feet, medicaments are applied to theskin areas between the toes as with tufts of cotton. There is a tendencyfor these tufts however, to work out from between the toes so as torender the treatment ineffective.

Among the objects of the present invention are the following: to providea toe harness which is inexpensive to manufacture, which may thus besold at a price warranting its disposal after a single days use, whichis easy to apply and comfortable to wear, which stays in place and holdscotton tufts between the toes until the harness is removed, and which isreadily reversible so as to fit either the right or the left foot.

Another object is to provide such a harness, the strips of whichextending between the toes are coated with wool yarn fibers which have afungicidal effect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of apreferred embodiment of the invention as it is held in the hands inreadiness for applying to the right foot.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the invention as it appears after itsapplication to the right foot.

FIG. 3 is a left side elevation of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The toe harness of theinvention preferably includes an elastic band 11 of a size requiring itto be stretched when applied to a foot 12 so that when said bandcontracts on said foot, it will hold the harness 10 in place.

The purpose for providing the harness 10 is to hold tufts 13 ofmedicated cotton between the toes 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the foot 12as required in treating certain diseases of the feet. Secured to thefront edge 19 of a delta-shaped central portion 20 of the upper half ofthe band 11 are four elastic strips 21, 22, 23, and 24 which lie in thevertical planes in which said toes are respectively contiguous with eachother. Said strips overlie cotton tufts 13 and extend downwardly betweensaid toes to be joined together at their lower ends by a transverseelastic strip which underlies toes 15, 16 and 17.

Opposite ends of transverse strip 25 are connected by wing elasticstrips 26 and 27 to the front edge of elastic band 1 1 close to thepoints at which elastic strips 21 and 24 connect to said band, saidstrips passing outwardly around the big and little toes 14 and 18 of thefoot 12 and holding the transverse strip 25 taut beneath toes 15, 16 and17, thus also holding the strips 21, 22 23 and 24 taut and pressingdownwardly against the cotton tufts l3 and preventing their dislodgementfrom the positions in which they have been placed between the toes.

As may be seen by inspection of FIG. 1, the harness 10 of the inventionis there viewed as when held for application to the right foot. The sameharness, when turned inside out, is applicable to the left foot. It istherefore unnecessary to manufacture the invention in two styles, onefor the right foot and the other for the left foot, as any harness 10 isapplicable to either the right foot or the left foot by the simpleexpedient above described.

The elastic band 11 and elastic strips 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27 arepreferably made of fabric covered rubber so that the rubber itself doesnot touch the skin of the foot.

The harness 10 is preferably applied to a foot 12 in the followingmanner:

The band 11, held in the two hands, as shown in FIG. 1, is slipped overthe toes and allowed to contract onto the foot just behind the toes inthe position in which the band is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, but, with theelastic strips 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 and 27, which are secured at theirrear ends to the upper portion 20 of band 11 and at their frontextremities to elastic strip 25, lie above the toes and on top of thefoot just forwardly of the band 11.

Four cotton tufts 13 are now pulled from a roll of absorbent cotton andtucked between the toes.

Opposite ends of transverse elastic strip 25 are now siezed between thethumbs and forefingers of the two hands and shifted forwardly anddownwardly over the toes to lodge said strip 25 directly under the toesas shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 with cotton tufts l3 individually andrespectively being held in place between said toes by elastic strips 21,22, 23 and 24.

I claim:

1. In a toe harness for holding four cotton tufts (13) between the toes(14, 15, 16, 17 and 18) of a human foot, the combination of:

an elastic band (11) of a length, enabling it, by stretching, to beapplied around the entire foot just back of the toes;

four elastic strips (21, 22, 23 and 24) spaced distances apart adaptingsaid strips to lie respectively in four vertical planes in which thefive toes of a human foot are continguous, said strips being connectedat their rear upper ends to the front upwardly disposed edge of saidband (1 1),

the front ends of said strips being adapted to pass forwardly anddownwardly in said planes between said toes; and

a transverse elastic strip spaced from said elastic band (25) connectingthe front,lower ends of the strips (21, 22, 23 and 24) and adapted tounderlie the middle three of said toes whereby strips (21, 22, 23 and24) will hold in place four cotton tufts inserted between the toes ofsaid foot.

2. A combination as recited in claim 1 wherein wing elastic strips areprovided connecting to outer ends of said transverse elastic strip, saidwing strips being adapted to extend outwardly and upwardly respectivelyaround the big and little toes, outer, upper ends of said wing stripsconnecting to the front edge of said elastic band.

3. A combination as recited in claim 2 wherein the central portion ofthe upper half of said band, adapted to be disposed opposite said middlethree toes, is delta-shaped and pointed forwardly,

said four first recited elastic strips being secured to the front edgeof said delta-shaped band portion, and

the upper ends of said wing elastic strips being secured to the frontedge of said delta band portion close to the points of juncturetherewith of the outermost of said four first recited elastic strips.

1. In a toe harness for holding four cotton tufts (13) between the toes(14, 15, 16, 17 and 18) of a human foot, the combination of: an elasticband (11) of a length, enabling it, by stretching, to be applied aroundthe entire foot just back of the toes; four elastic strips (21, 22, 23and 24) spaced distances apart adapting said strips to lie respectivelyin four vertical planes in which the five toes of a human foot arecontinguous, said strips being connected at their rear upper ends to thefront upwardly disposed edge of said band (11), the front ends of saidstrips being adapted to pass forwardly and downwardly in said planesbetween said toes; and a transverse elastic strip spaced from saidelastic band (25) connecting the front,lower ends of the strips (21, 22,23 and 24) and adapted to underlie the middle three of said toes wherebystrips (21, 22, 23 and 24) will hold in place four cotton tufts insertedbetween the toes of said foot.
 2. A combination as recited in claim 1wherein wing elastic strips are provided connecting to outer ends ofsaid transverse elastic strip, said wing strips being adapted to extendoutwardly and upwardly respectively around the big and little toes,outer, upper ends of said wing strips connecting to the front edge ofsaid elastic band.
 3. A combination as recited in claim 2 wherein thecentral portion of the upper half of said band, adapted to be disposedopposite said middle three toes, is delta-shaped and pointed forwardly,said four first recited elastic strips ; being secured to the front edgeof said delta-shaped band portion, and the upper ends of said wingelastic strips being secured to the front edge of said delta bandportion close to the points of juncture therewith of the outermost ofsaid four first recited elastic strips.